PHILADELPHIA – Give the Devils a reason, and they give back the reasons they are the champs.

They may fluff off some against the generics and geriatrics, but they look best when they have a little fire in their bellies, a little snarl on their lips and a little challenge in front of them.

“That’s what I like most about our team, and also what drives me crazy,” Larry Robinson said after the Devils’ latest awe-inspiring display, a 7-1 trouncing of the Flyers here last night.

“When we have a great challenge, and are put to the test, our backs to the wall, there is such great character and great pride that most of the time, they do respond. But it drives you crazy that they could play like that every night, and don’t.”

They had not beaten their Turnpike-rival Flyers this season, annoying them like a pebble in the skate. And the undermanned Orange Crud sat only one point behind them atop the Atlantic Division. Worse, they were embarrassed by a careless collapse that cost them their 11-game unbeaten streak Tuesday.

They had that churning inside last night.

“I felt it,” Bobby Holik said. “They stunned us. Three straight games we hadn’t beaten them. We had something to prove. And the bigger the game, the more important the game, the better we are.

“You’re not going to see us backing down from any challenge there is.”

Loaded for bear, the Devils scored twice before the Flyers put their first shot on Martin Brodeur, and led 3-0 before the Flyers had managed two shots on goal.

The superb Scott Stevens opened the scoring with his fifth after only 1:44 of play. Scott Gomez beat Daymond Langkow on an offensive left draw, and Stevens’ left point slap deflected up off Rick Tocchet to embarrass All-Star selection Roman Cechmanek on the short side.

Only 2:31 later, Gomez won another left draw, this time from Peter White, setting up Alexander Mogilny in the circle. Mogilny’s 23rd beat Cechmanek’s glove, high and long, his 15th in 15 games.

“Some nights I can’t win a draw,” Gomez said.

The Devils already had eight shots when the Flyers managed their first, and the Devils had the next one, too, Jason Arnott’s ninth at 10:20. From the left point, Stevens found Arnott free at the back door for an easy steer.

The rout resumed in the second with Jay Pandolfo’s first in 19 games. Turner Stevenson befuddled Andy Delmore in the left corner and John Madden darted in to center the freed puck to Pandolfo in the left circle. Pandolfo immediately put his fourth long, over Cechmanek’s glove.

Stevenson picked up his second assist of the period, coming out of the box to lead a 3-on-1. Scott Niedermayer took his drop and cut around Luke Richardson, drawing Cechmanek out of his net. Niedermayer then dropped to Sergei Brylin, who had an empty net at 16:29 of the second.

Holik was in the box for a needless hook when Eric Desjardins ruined Brodeur’s shutout bid at 6:22 of the third. From the left boards, Mark Recchi rifled a pass through a poorly-positioned Petr Sykora, and Desjardins moved in from the right point to fire his eighth over Ken Daneyko’s block attempt and Brodeur’s glove.

After going 11 straight games without allowing a power play goal, the Devils have now yielded one in three straight.

The Devil power play answered at 14:04, as Gomez worked a give-and-go with Mogilny in the right circle for his seventh, beating Brian Boucher, who replaced Cechmanek to open the third. Brylin completed the scoring with his second of the night and 12th of the year at 16:12.

“Not too much I could be unhappy about tonight,” said Robinson. “I thought the guys played perfect.”